Method properties
On the Method properties tab, which is present when you have selected a new or existing method in a data source in an application in the Application browser, you set the general properties of this method.
Click here for information on how to edit properties in general. And click here to read about how to manage objects in the tree view in the Application browser. On the current tab you'll find the following settings:
Open the drop-down list to choose a type for this method. For all types applies that you can exclude certain users from the functionality of that type, by setting limiting access rights for this method or for the database or dataset. The following types are supported:
| • | Term search - Create an access point to search a Text (term) index, or an integer, date or logical index. |
| • | Free text search - Create an access point to search a Free text index (also called a word index). |
| • | Create new records - Enable the possibility of creating new records in this data source: a New option will be present. |
| • | Search language - Enable the possibility to search this data source using the Advanced search language. |
| • | Query by Form - This method is not supported by Axiell Collections. |
| • | Delete records - Enable the possibility of deleting records from this data source. |
| • | Pointer files - Enable working with saved searches (aka pointer files) in this data source in general. It used to be so that, in contrast to the other method types, you didn't need to create a method of this type if all users were allowed full access to pointer files in the current data source: this functionality was active by default, even without the method being present. That is why you won't find a method of this type in most older standard applications (before application version 3.6 anyway). From Collections 1.13 this has changed, so that now you do have to specify a method of this type explicitly to allow users access to the saved search functionality at all.
Note that you cannot only apply access rights specific to this method but also apply default pointer file access rights per database: the access rights per method can be seen as an (overriding) refinement to any general database wide pointer file access rights. |
| • | Global Update - Enable the search-and-replace function in a data source, which activates the Search and replace icon. Search-and-replace allows the user to semi-automatically replace one value by another, in one and the same field in all marked records. |
| • | Print records - Enable the possibility to print selected records from this data source. |
| • | Export records - Enable the possibility to export records from this data source, using the Export option in the running Collections application. |
| • | Import records - For Axiell Collections, the omission of this method means that all users are able to import data into the current data source: to exclude certain users from being able to import into this data source, the method must be added and appropriate access rights will have to be added (but even with $REST NONE, the current data source will remain visible in the Select data source window after clicking the Import option in the Collections main menu, only after selecting it the user will be notified that he or she has no access rights for importing). |
| • | Derive records - Enable the possibility to derive records from "friendly" databases. |
| • | Date range search - This method type allows for an access point to search two indexes for different date fields simultaneously on a date range. For instance, when you have two date fields, Date (early) and Date (late), e.g. for the dating of a museum object, and you have an index for each of these fields, you can introduce this method in your application. A method of the Date range search type requires you to provide the first field in the From search field method property (see below) and the second field for the To search field option. In the running application you now get an extra access point in the current data source, with which the user can search on a date range. (Also see the Date completion option for date indexes.)
Note that "normal" date range access points only search one index on a single date field, and have Term search as the Method type. |
| • | Link update - This method is not supported by Collections. |
| • | Fixed query - This method type enables users to execute a fixed or partially variable, complex search statement by simply clicking an access point and maybe entering a search key. This is a handy feature to offer users more convenient ways of searching, for example to be able to request a list of recent accessions, or to search for all object records pertaining to that artist with the difficult name who is the focus of a lot of attention at that moment.
For a Fixed query method, you have to fill in a search statement in the Query entry field. The syntax of these search statements is largely the same as for those in the Advanced search of Collections. The name you give to this method will appear in the access points list on the Standard tab of the Search <data source> window. If the search statement contains a variable, the user has to enter a search key before the actual search can be started. If you want to add one or more of such methods to an access points list, then best first try out the desired (fixed) search statement(s) in the Advanced search in your Collections application. Then copy the search statement to the Query property of your new method, here in Designer. |
| • | Named range search - This method type is not supported by Axiell Collections. |
| • | Location change procedure - This method type is not supported by Axiell Collections. In Collections, the location change procedure is a "task" which is present by default in relevant data sources in current application versions, but its use can be limited via access rights for the task. This task allows the user to change the current location of a marked set of objects. This is handy if a part of or all of the collection changes location: with the Change locations option the user can register such a change in one batch procedure, instead of having to edit each record separately. |
| • | Print barcodes - This method type is not supported by Axiell Collections. In Collections there is no way to print directly to a label printer. |
| • | Publish records to TheCollectionCloud - This method type is not supported by Axiell Collections. |
| • | Upload records to Europeana - This method type is not supported by Axiell Collections. |
| • | Bulk insert (available from Designer 7.4) - If you'd like Axiell Collections users to have the possibility to create multiple new records with some identical data at once, you can set up a (single) Bulk insert method in the desired data source for this purpose. Nonetheless, a bulk insert icon is present in the Result set context toolbar by default:
Without a specified Bulk insert method, it'll allow the user to add just a single new record, so then the icon doubles with the New record icon in the Record details context toolbar. Clicking the icon will open the Bulk create records window. In the Number of records to create entry field (only present if a Bulk insert method was set up for this data source) the user must then specify the number of identical records to create, while the data entered in the available screen fields will be stored in all those new records. After the records have been created, the user can of course edit them one by one to add data unique to each record. Simply add menu texts to this method to name it and create one or more normal detail screens or search for existing, appropriate detail screens containing all fields users might like to fill in when bulk creating records, and then associate them with this method: right-click the method, choose New > Detail screen and select the desired screen file via the … button on the Detail screen properties tab to associate a screen with the method. If you specify no screens at all, the Bulk create records window will simply display all detail screens set up for this data source. Uniquely indexed fields on the bulk create screens are no problem. Any data you fill in will get a sequential number as a postfix in each bulk created record, starting with the value entered in the Start box. For example, if the user bulk creates three records with object number ABCD-001, while he or she has set Start to 17, then the automatically generated object numbers will be ABCD-00117, ABCD-00118 and ABCD-00119. Note that this automatic sequential numbering will only work for uniquely indexed fields. Also see the full topic. |
| • | Simple search (available from Designer 7.4) - In Axiell Collections, in the Result set context toolbar, you have the option to quickly execute a new search by clicking the Search icon (the magnifying glass) and selecting a field from the drop-down list of all indexed fields in this database, after which you simply enter your partial of whole search key (explicit truncation required for partial keys) in the Enter search key box and click the magnifying glass. Besides the full list of indexed fields, you can add a simple search access point which can search multiple indexed fields at once (always with implicit truncation). After setting the Method type of your new method to Simple search, in the Menu texts box enter the name for this new access point which will be visible in the user interface between < and > at the top of the list of indexed fields. Name it Search, for example. Add as many translations as are required by the users of your application. Then at the bottom of this properties tab, in the Simple search fields box enter one or more field tags (one tag per line) for which an index exists. (These indexes may in turn index just a single field or multiple fields.) The field tags do not need to be of the same data type. There's no comfortable way here to look up the tags you need, so you'll have to do that in the database definition. Also see the full topic. |
| • | Copy record (available from Designer 7.7.3 for Collections 1.11 and up) - By default, the Copy record function has always been available in all data sources and there was no way to hide this function. From Designer 7.7.3.1538 though, a Copy record method type is available for methods in data sources, allowing you to set limiting access rights for certain roles, to hide the function in certain data sources for certain users if desired. If you just add this method to data sources, without assigning access rights, then the method will be available in these data sources to everyone. From Collections 1.11, the Copy record function will only be present in the Record details context toolbar if a method of this type has been added to the relevant data source. Adding this method will break compatibility with older versions of Designer and Collections, but removing the method will restore that compatibility. |
| • | Record templates (available from Designer 7.7.3 for Collections 1.11 and up) - By default, the Record template function has always been available in all data sources and there was no way to hide this function. From Designer 7.7.3.1538 though, a Record template method type is available for methods in data sources, allowing you to set limiting access rights for certain roles, to hide the function in certain data sources for certain users if desired. If you just add this method to data sources, without assigning access rights, then the method will be available in these data sources to everyone. From Collections 1.11, the Record template function will only be present in the Record details context toolbar if a method of this type has been added to the relevant data source. Adding this method will break compatibility with older versions of Designer and Collections, but removing the method will restore that compatibility. Note that when the user creates a new record based on a record template, the executed database procedures will be the same as when the user would enter a new record without template, so first the before-input adapl is executed and then the fields will be filled from the template. After that, the process is the same as for entering and saving new records. |
| • | RecordMerge (available from Designer 7.7.4 for Collections 1.12 and up) - Sometimes you may have two or more records describing the same person, the same thesaurus term or the same catalogue item or object, for example, and you'd like them merged into one, taking all the best data from those records and automatically delete the remaining ones. Collections 1.12 and up offer just that functionality and give you control over target and source record(s) and to a certain extent over which data you'd like to keep and which must be deleted. The functionality is only present if properly set up for a data source. This simply involves adding the RecordMerge method to the existing list of methods in the desired data source(s). Name the method something like "Record merging". You can assign access rights to limit the use of this function. Roles which haven't been assigned access rights to this method will have full access to the function. Without the method, the function won't be available to users in the current data source. There are good reasons to limit the use of this function because the function can't check if mandatory fields will be filled in after the merge and if non-repeatable fields haven't been assigned multiple occurrences during the merge: see the Collections release notes for version 1.12 for more information about these limitations. So merging records should only be done by knowledgeable users. After adding the method and recycling the application pool, the Merge selected records (Ctrl+H) icon becomes available in the Result set context toolbar of Collections. The user should mark at least two records to activate the icon.  |
| • | AdminFunctions - <for future use, no function yet> |
You must provide the name of the method (if it is an access point) as it will appear in the access points list on the Standard tab of the Search <data source> window, in as many languages as you wish to make available to users. It is useful to also provide menu texts for methods that are not access points, as they will be used in the tree view in the Application browser of Designer.
Enter or search for the tag or field name of the field in the current database, that you want to associate with this method, if this is an access point (usually Text and Free text search method types). There must have been defined an index for this field in the current database (unless you're about to create an access point for a merged-in field, in which case there must be an index in the linked database*). The key type of the relevant index will determine the default sorting of the search result.
If you create an access point for a field which is linked to an external database by means of a forward reference, you must enter the index tag for the forward reference field here. The Collections user can search on the data in the current data source just as if there were no external link.
For methods of the Date range search type, enter or search for the tag or field name of the (indexed) date field which contains the "early" date.
* If you want to make an access point for a merged-in field, then enter or search for the tag or field name of the destination field in the current database. In this case, no index must be present for the destination tag in the current database; for Axiell Collections a Text index (for a Term search method type), a Free text index (for a Free text search method type), an integer index (for a Term search method type), a date index (for a Term search method type) or logical index (for a Term search method type) on the source tag (from which the merged-in value is retrieved), does need to be present in the linked database.
The source tag in the linked database can also be a linked field itself (in which case the destination field can still be a plain text field): the source tag itself will not have an index but its link reference tag will.
For methods of the Date range search type, this property becomes active. Enter or search for the tag or field name of the (indexed) date field which contains the "late" date.
This option is not relevant to method types supported by Collections and it will be ignored.
If this method is an access point (usually Term search and Free text search method types) and if searches with this access point only need to be done in a certain domain in the above specified Search key (to) property in the current data source, then enter here the name of the domain. Domains must of course be included in the index for this field. Type the domain name exactly as it is defined in the database setup in the Value column of the enumerative list for the domain field, because domain names are case-sensitive.
This option is not relevant to Axiell Collections.
For a method of the Fixed querytype, you'll have to fill in a search statement here. The syntax of such search statements is largely the same as for those in the Advanced search language: the only difference is that you may include in this query the variable %data% and/or %worddata% one or several times instead of one and the same literal value in the search statement. Either variable allows the user to enter one or more search keys separated by spaces after choosing the relevant fixed query "access point". An exception are saved searches (aka pointer files): to request a saved search by its number, use the fixed query pointer %numericdata%.
Use %worddata% for searching Free text indexed fields (like a title or notes fields) and use %data% for searching Text indexed fields.
As searching in Collections differs between non-Full Text and Full Text indexed databases, there's a difference here too:
For Full Text indexed databases:
| • | If the search statement is an "equals" (=) search and the user enters more than one key, those keys must be in the right order: for %data% the entered search keys are not implicitly truncated (so the user must truncate explicitly if desired) while for %data%* (note the asterisk) only the last entered search key will be truncated implicitly. You typically do not search Free text indexed fields with an "equals" search. |
| • | If the search statement is a "contains" (_) search, the order of the entered keys isn't relevant: for %data% and %worddata% alike, the entered search keys are implicitly truncated. |
For non-Full Text indexed databases:
| • | If the search statement is an "equals" (=) search and the user enters more than one key, those keys must be in the right order: for %data% the entered search keys are not implicitly truncated (so the user must truncate explicitly if desired) while for %data%* (note the asterisk) only the last entered search key will be truncated implicitly. You typically do not search Free text indexed fields with an "equals" search. |
| • | If the search statement is a "contains" (_) search, then for %data% the order of the entered keys must be the correct order while the order isn't relevant for %worddata%. For %worddata% and %data% alike, the user must truncate the entered search keys explicitly if truncation is desirable. For %data%* (note the asterisk) only the last entered search key will be truncated implicitly while for %worddata%* (note the asterisk) all entered keys will be truncated implicitly. |
Note that if implicit truncation applies, it never hurts if the user adds the truncation asterisk explicitly still.
Suppose you wish to offer a fixed query via the current method in the current data source, e.g. a new method named Recent accessions in the data source Books of a Library application, to request the accessions of the past 30 days. A proper query would then be: acquisition_date from "today-30". This query has no %data% or %worddata% variables, so it will be executed immediately after the user chooses the access point.
Another example is a query with which you search for books which have been acquired in the past month and have been written by an author to be entered by the user after choosing this access point. This method could for instance be named Accessions for author. A proper query would be: au = %data%* and du from "today-30". The asterisk indicates that any search value entry must always be considered truncated.
This setting will be ignored by Collections.
This setting will be ignored by Collections.
Here you can enter the key to the Help text which will be displayed when the user hovers the mouse cursor over the access point entry field in Collections.
For some methods, like Create new records or Expert search, this option is not applicable, and therefore greyed out.
For the Simple search method type, enter one or more field tags (one tag per line) for which an index exists. (These indexes may in turn index just a single field or multiple fields.) The field tags do not need to be of the same data type. There's no comfortable way here to look up the tags you need, so you'll have to do that in the database definition.
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